Today, in the presence of the Vice President Tajani, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Satellites Services Provider (ESSP SAS) signed a €450 million contract for the provision of EGNOS services until 2021.
The contract will secure the continuous and safe provision of the three services offered by EGNOS and covers also maintenance and upgrading the EGNOS system infrastructure, and ensuring. The ceremony which took place in Brussels was attended by the Executive Director Mr Carlo des Dorides and the President of ESSP SAS, Mr Dirk Werquin.
Carlo des Dorides declared “This contract between the GSA and ESSP is an important signal to EGNOS users, in particular the aviation community, because it secures the benefits of the EGNOS services for many years to come. It is also a major achievement for the GSA in taking over the responsibility for the operations of EGNOS. I wish to congratulate ESSP for coming out top in a very competitive procurement but also to thank the other tenderers, who demonstrated their professionalism all along the process.”
The contract was awarded to ESSP SAS at the end of a one-year procurement process managed by the GSA under powers delegated by the European Commission. Launched in June 2012, the procurement process involved two negotiation rounds with three retained tenderers. ESSP SAS was awarded the contract since its offer provided the best value for money.
EGNOS has been designed to offer three high-performance navigation and positioning services:
- Open Service (OS)
- Safety-of-Life Service (SoL)
- Commercial Service or "EGNOS Data Access Server" (EDAS)
This contract is one of the biggest contracts ever signed by the European Union in the frame of the EU GNSS Programs. The duration of the contract (ensuring a service provision period of 8 years) is a clear signal from the EU on its commitment to support the GNSS programs in general, and the EGNOS service provision in particular. Such a long term commitment is essential to provide the user communities such as Aviation, Maritime or Rail with the visibility and stability which is required to invest in EGNOS user equipment and applications.
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